The Rise of a Dragon
by DragonsFTW
Summary: Catherine is just a kid who loves dueling. She is trying to follow into her brothers', who is a great child duelist, footsteps. Then something terrible happens and she finds herself all alone. How will she adapt to the new environment? Will she be able to accept the passing of her family? Will she continue on with her dream, and join Duel Academy?
1. Prologue part 1

**Yay, my first story. Honestly, I have NO idea how this will turn out. Yes, this will be an OC story. Yes, this will probably suck. Everyone is probably sick and tired of these. But please rewiev anyway. POV will be my characters, unless noted otherwise. Oh, and I'll be using japanese names. Please don't be very hard on me, okay?**

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" my mom said as she shook me awake. "You don't want to be late for your first big tournament, do you?

"Five more minutes, please!" I mumbled in my pillow.

"Come on, Cat, it's the friggin' tournament of Eurasia! You're lucky that I'm too old for this one, or otherwise it'd be me going to Germany!" My brother told me loudly while pulling me out of bed. "You better win, or I'll make you duel me every day!" He tried to threaten me, but it didn't work, since I absolutely loved dueling him, even if I lost every time. Well, he was four years older, so I guess I had a legitimate excuse.

"Seriously though, get up. We have to get on the plane." my mom told me in an almost harsh voice. "Come. Dad is making us breakfast." she said while turning her back and going to the kitchen.

I have never been a morning person. I groaned as I sat up in my bed and looked around. It was still dark outside, about five am, and it was snowing heavily. My brother, Robert, was standing in the doorway and staring at me. The light behind him was almost blinding. Curse those powerful light bulbs. I looked at him for a bit, my mind slowly catching up with today.

Holy cow, today we were going to Germany, to the tournament! Wait, what if everyone there is better than me? What if...

"Umm, Rob?" I asked my brother. "You're experienced as a duelist. What if I... lose? And don't win a single duel?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure you won't. And even if you will, you're already the national champion in your age group! That's pretty neat for an eight-year-old brat like you." He said. "But if you really lack the confidence, let me give you something. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his deck, taking the first two cards from the top. I looked at them. The Black Luster Soldier and Black Luster Ritual. His favourite cards. "Here. I want you to put them in your deck. You do remember the strategies that I told you? About summoning it?" He asked me with the most serious tone I had ever heard him speak in.

I nodded and took the cards from him. After that I took my deck and put them in it. "Wait. Now I have forty-two cards. You told me that the less cards you have, the better. What should I take out?"

He took my deck from me and inspected the cards for a second. "Hmm. What about one of the Hyonzaryus and that weird equip spell card?"

"But Hyonzaryu's my favourite!"

"Liaaar. You told me yesterday your favourite card was the Blue Eyes White Dragon."

"Yes, but I don't have it! Or maybe you see some Blue Eyes casually scattered around?"

"Just take out the damn cards."

I pouted as I did what he asked. Hyonzaryus were my next favourite card. Sometimes it was as if I knew when I was going to draw one, which made planning my turns a lot easier. Still, I had another two in.

"What's taking you so long? The food's getting cold!" my mom yelled from the kitchen. Rob and I looked at each other, before rushing to where the voice came from.

My dad had made omelet and bacon. I walked in the kitchen, inhaling the delicious smell. He had made a lot, which was nice, but I wasn't very hungry. Usually whenever I didn't eat my food dad became sad and thought that it was because I don't like his cooked meals. That was totally untrue, I just don't like to eat a lot in the morning. I stared at my brother, who was glomping down his food as if it was his last meal. After he was finished, he looked at my plate with the expression of a hungry wolf. I nodded and he put all of my food in his plate.

Dad turned arouned and noticed my plate. "Oh, Cat, finished already? Well, you do have a long three days before you, I guess." He tried to sound objective, but his expression practically screamed "pleased". I smiled as I drunk my milk.

"Now, Catherine, don't drink too much milk. You know we won't have a chance to visit the restroom before the plane." mom said, already knowing that her words will reach deaf ears. No one can take my precious milk away from me!

...not even my grandmother, who could be scarier than Dark Necrofear.

After we finished our breakfast, mom started to do the dishes, dad double-checked the luggage, while Rob and I finally changed out of our pyjamas and into normal, civilised clothes. I looked into the mirror on the wall. Big, brown eyes stared back at my own. I averted my gaze and stared at the floor. Not like there was anything to see in the mirror anyway. Pale skin, straw-coloured hair, skinny frame. You couldn't tell I had been doing shotokan for almost a year and a half. My family and friends always told me I looked normal, but I knew I looked odd. I looked too... too weird. Some girls in my class called me Scarecrow. I suppose I did really look like one.

Suddenly something made me look back into the mirror. There, standing right beside me, was a dragon. Hyonzaryu. Sometimes I could feel him with me, and even see him. He made me feel safe. Once I told my parents about him. They started fussing about me feeling alone and making up imaginary friends. I knew my brother could see him as well. Sometimes he-

"CATHERINE ANN! If you don't get your dreaming ass here right now, we're gonna miss the plane!" Mom shouted from the corridor of our flat. I shook all my thoughts away and grinned to

myself as I ran to her.

We we're ready to go. I was ready to go. I was ready to win.

"Wait, I think you forgot something." Dad said with a smile. I stopped running with one of my legs still in the air and almost resulted in falling down.

"What is it that I forgot?" I asked him.

"Your enthusiasm!"

"Nope. I got it right here!" I said with a sincere smile.

Just like I said, I was ready to win.

**And that ^ was my first chapter! What do you think? Was it very boring? I promise it will grow better. It's hard to write a character who has just woken up. Anyway, please R&R!**


	2. Prologue part 2

** Yay, another chapter! Thank you, iloveyugiohGX93, for reviewing! It's nice to know that at least one person read it. Please rewiev! Correct my mistakes, make suggestions, criticize, etc.**

OHMYGODWE'REFLYINGWE'REFLYINGWE'REFLYING

...I'm scared. This is the first time I'm on a plane. Or very high in the air...I don't think I like flying very much. Too high up in the air, too many people, not enough dragons and milk.

"What's up with you? You've been staring out of the window as if it was raining cards outside!" my brother, who was sitting next to me, asked. My mom and dad, who were sitting next to him were also staring at me.

"...Nothing. I'm just nervous. About the flying, and tournament, and everything." I told them. "And don't you dare bring up THAT!"

My brother opened his mouth to say something, but mom cut him off. "It's going to be okay, Cat. Wait, I should probably get you chocolate or something. This is your first time on a plane, after all."

As my mom started to talk with one of the flight attendants, I looked around. Most people were sleeping or reading, my dad being among them. My brother was scribbling something in his notebook. Probably some new duelling strategy for either him or me. Lately he'd been creating lots of those.

Suddenly the plane started shaking a bit. "Um, we will, um, experience some minor turbulence. Please, um, fasten your seatbelts and remain calm." the pilot told us. Unfortunately I had already started screaming like a dying duck, and some of the passengers were looking at me with horror or bemusement. My mom shoved candy and a cup of hot chocolate in my hands and I instantly calmed down. If I'm going to die, at least I'll die with a mouth full of candy.

"Okay, we've almost reached the ground. I ate all the candy a while ago and managed to spill the hot chocolate in Rob's lap. He wasn't very happy." I scribbled in something that I guess would count as a journal. I decided on keeping one the night before "the Big Journey" as my brother had started calling this trip. I guess I could read it when I'm a pro duelist. Or I could sell it. To the press. For lots of money. ...I actually kinda like that idea.

"I had never noticed how much I love the ground until now!" I exclaimed.

"Says the person who loves trampolines, swings and climbing walls." said Rob.

"On those I don't have to put my life in the hands of some guy and a giant motor with wings."

"Please, Cat, Rob, not now. We just got out of the airport!" dad told us.

"Now we're supposed to wait for a limo that will take us to... wherever the tournament will take place." mom answered the question I had not yet asked, as if reading my mind.

"Is it here yet?" I asked, obviously not wanting to wait.

"Maybe you shouldn't have given her so much candy." dad told to mom.

"Wow! I thought that our local duelling arenas were big. This place is huge!" I said in disbelief. Could this all really be real?

"Come on, Kitty, we need to find the registration place!" My brother told me and started dragging me towards the other end of the arena.

"Do you have any idea where we're going? And don't call me Kitty!" I yelled at him.

"At least I'm going somewhere, and not standing! Besides, I'm the one who understands German!"

"... Is it me or are you dragging us right over to that group of teenage girls?"

"Well we have to ask someone!"

"They probably don't even speak German!"

"...I also understand Russian."

"I know that. I also doubt they speak Russian."

Rob just shrugged his shoulders and started to talk with the girls.

Turned out they were from Britain, which made things a lot easier, since I also spoke English, so my brother couldn't just tell them anything. As for the administration office, as they called it, one of the girls pointed to the direction from which we came from.

"You should hurry, though. The duels start in about an hour!" she said.

I have absolutely NO idea why we had to hurry. Mom and dad went to "explore the city". They decided that my brother should watch over me. Pfft. As if he would do that. He saw some card shop and decided to trade cards with strangers.

I was walking around, trying to figure out of something to do before the duels started. What I was currently in seemed to be some kind of common room. A lot of people were sitting on the floor or one of the numerous chairs or couches. What surprised me was that pretty much everyone seemed to be busy with their deck.

Should I also rebuild it? I decided that I had nothing better to do and sat down on the nearest couch. There was already somebody sitting there, but I hoped they didn't mind.

They mumbled something in a language I couldn't understand. I think it was Japanese.

"Sorry, but I don't understand." I spoke in my best English. I looked at whoever I was sitting next to. It was a boy, about my age, with black hair spiked up weirdly. He seemed to be almost confused. Didn't he speak English.

"You're ...bothering... me." He somehow managed out.

"Sorry. I just have nothing better to do."

"Other than bothering people?"

He seemed kind of rude.

"No, I'm bored, so I decided to analyse my deck again," I said, "but if I bother you that much," I stood up.

"He suddenly looked a bit emarassed. "No, sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. You can stay." he told me in fragmented English, lacing it with Japanese.

"Okay." I sat back down. Then I decided to introduce myself. "I'm Catherine, but please call me Cat." I said, sticking out my hand. He stared at it for a bit, but then shook it.

"Manjoume Jun." He replied.

"Wait, is your name Manjoume, or is your name Jun?" I asked, being confused.

"Manjoume is my family name."

"Then I'm gonna call you Jun."

"Um, you can let go of my hand now."

"Huh? Oh, sorry." I hadn't realised I was still shaking his hand. "So, is this your first tournament as well?" I asked him.

"I thought you sat here to analyse your deck."

"Well, since I know your name, I might as well learn other things. After all, I already analysed my deck on the plane. Twice."

He sighed. "This will be a long day."

**I hope it turned out okay. Manjoume Jun is Chazz Princetons' name in the Japanese dub. If it doesn't make sense, that's probably since I just woke up and decided to write a bit.**


	3. Prologue part 3

**Wow. Thanks again to iloveyugiohGX93 for reviewing, and favoriting me as an author! And also huge thanks to Bloodsakura, also for reviewing and sharing her opinion! I will actually try to squash something together, just for her(him?). And also thanks to whoever favorited and followed this story!**

"How the hell can you eat so much?!" Jun yelled at me. I shrugged my shoulders and kept eating the tenth ice cream.

"I don't know. Food makes me happy." I answered. He rolled his eyes.

"Still, you eat more than a hungry elephant. That's got to be unhealthy."

I replied with a dramatic gasp "Maybe I AM an elephant!" Jun rolled his eyes again, for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past hour.

Turned out this was his first big tournament as well. Then again, he was the champion of Japan, which was a huge achievement. A lot bigger than being the champ of some small European country, and he didn't hesitate to rub it in my face. Apparently he used a Dragon deck as well.

"Cat! There you are!" Rob shouted as he ran towards me. "Wait, who's that?"

"Rob, meet Jun, Jun, this is Rob, my brother and the biggest idiot in the world." I explained.

"I thought that was you." replied Jun.

Suddenly, there was a buzzer sound, which cut off my reply."Attention duellists, please gather in the main duelling arena. The duels are about to start." Said a voice from the speakers. Everyone started going in the same direction. I had no idea where to go, so I just started going the same way, dragging the two boys with me.

Looked like it was the right way, since we got right back to the "main duelling arena", as the voice said, or, "big-ass room" as my brother had dubbed it. It's strange how he thinks up those names for almost everything. Now there was a giant screen on one of the walls. On it was a list of who was going to duel who, when and where.

I quickly scanned the list, Rob and Jun did the same. Apparently, everyone duels once a day, except the last day, when there were two duels for each person who was still in, and if you lose, you're pretty much out. Looks like I still have some time before my duel. Oh, wait. Jun's duelling in the first duel. I've got to see that!

"The first duel. Great." Jun said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh, come on. I know that you'll do great! After all, you have a dragon deck, and dragons are awesome!" I tried to cheer him up. I'm not sure it worked, though. "By the way, is your family or friends going to cheer on you?"

"No. My brothers were too busy."

"You only live with brothers? And more than one? Wow. That must be terrible. I can't imagine living with two Robs. What was so important that they couldn't come and cheer on their brother?"

"One of my brothers is a politician. The other is the CEO of a big financial company."

"That must be hard, living with such people. I mean, you're in a duelling tournament. Of Eurasia. Isn't that a good enough reason to come?" Rob asked Jun.

"They think that I should learn to do things by myself. They also expect me to become the best duellist of the world, so our family would be at the top of the world." Jun said in a sad tone. Suddenly I felt bad for him.

"Wait, what has card games got to do with world domination?" I asked in a fake confused tone, trying to lighten up the mood.

Suddenly Jun laughed. "Nothing, I guess." But something made me feel that it wasn't a heartfelt laugh.

"Yay, Jun won! As for my duel... I'd rather not talk about it. Just kidding! I totally kicked some ass!" I made yet another note in the journal. My future self should be proud of me- I actually remembered to write again.

My opponent was good, but still, he was no match for me and my deck!...And my brothers' strategies.

Now, I wonder, who will I duel tomorrow?

"Yay! I won again~" I sang, while trying to hug both my family and Jun. Not because I like him or anything, just to annoy him. "Maybe I can actually win this!"

"Nope. You can only hope to come in second." said Jun.

"Oh really? Then who's gonna come in first?"

"Me, of course!"

"The only tournament you could come in first would be the weird hairstyle competition!"

"The only one YOU could get a prize in would be a food-eating contest."

We continued to argue for a moment, until dad finally decided to break us apart, before one of us actually got mad. "Well, we can't know who will win until tomorrow. So let's just call it a draw."

"Fine." Jun said.

"Well, Jun, it was nice to meet you, but we now we will go have a walk around the city. See you tomorrow!" my mom told Jun.

"Goodbye." Jun replied.

Well, I'll see him tomorrow. As for now, a walk around Berlin with my family.

I woke up in the hotel bed. My legs hurt a bit from the long walk we had yesterday. I doubt dad will be able to walk at all. He was never one for physical activities. Rob and mom, on the other hand, should be fine. Mom was used to walking around a lot, and brother played basketball.

Oh wait! The final day of this tournament! I've got to be in the best shape, so I can come in first! I instantly jumped out of bed and immediately fond my deck, which wasn't hard to do since it was laid down on the floor. Rob and I went over a lot of strategies last night. In my mind I recited all of them, before finally putting my deck away. By the time I did that, the rest of the family was up too. We had a quick breakfast, and hurried to the place where the big finale will take place.

We were early, so it was no surprise that there weren't many people there. For some reason Jun was already there. I guess he really DID want to win. I hope I won't have to duel him, because I had actually befriended him. It would be hard for me.

Well, apparently my first duel of today will be against some girl, Russian, judging by the name. I hope it will be as easy as the previous duels I had.

"Alright, I won! It was harder than my previous duels, though. I actually brought up both my Hyozanryu and almost had to summon the Black Luster Soldier. Almost." I scribbled in my journal. Now all that was standing between me and victory was a single duel. I checked the screen again, waiting for it to show the name of the person I had to duel.

Manjoume Jun.

Great. Now I have to either say goodbye to victory, or have his brothers be mad at him. I wish there was a third option. Oh wait, there is! I have to manage to get a draw! Then we'll both win.

And I had just the strategy. ...My brothers', of course.

**I'm not very good at writing duels, so I'm not going to. For now. You can just imagine what they were like. It might be a bit weird, but it's the best I can force from myself at 4 am (I wasn't sleepy, so I decided to do something). Well anyway, this is the end of the prologue.**


	4. Chapter 1

**Yay, another chapter. I don't know how regularly I'll be able to update, since I'm a pretty busy person. I go to school, and programming, and I do sports, and usually I get home at half past eight pm. + I have to do homework. :( Thank you, YamiRuss, for reviewing. Reviews are very helpful! And I did change my mind about duels. I will probably have bits and pieces from duels in the next chapter.**

This is just a bad dream. It has to be.

I was lying in a hospital bed, in the city of Domino, in Japan.

The last thing I remembered before being here was sitting in a taxi. We were going to KaibaLand, due to the request of both me and my brother. And since I had won a lot of prize money in that tournament, we could afford it. Mom thought it would be easier to hire a taxi to take us there from the airport, rather than try to find the place by ourselves, because none of us spoke Japanese, I only knew a few words I picked up from Jun.

The next thing I know was waking up in the hospital, with several nurses around me, speaking frantically. I didn't understand a thing. Both my mind and my body felt numb.

Later a doctor came to me, with him was some man. Apparently he was the ambassador of my country. He also acted as a translator. He told me that the taxi we had been in had crashed. The driver had been intoxicated.

Nobody had survived the crash but me.

The ambassador told me that they would pay for the funeral and, since they couldn't find any alive relatives that could take me in, put me in an orphanage.

Yes. This was just a bad dream. A nightmare. I will wake up any moment and find myself asleep in the taxi.

I never did.

It was the funeral of my family. I wanted to be strong, to show mom, and dad, and Rob that I would be all right, that they didn't have worry and could rest in peace, but for some reason, my tears wouldn't stop flowing.

The only people that were there were a priest, the ambassador and someone he had said was the director of the orphanage, the latter awkwardly patting me on the back, as if trying to make me feel better. Nothing would ever make me feel better.

This wasn't fair. Currently I should have been on our way home with my family, not attending their funeral.

Three years have passed since their death. I still live in the orphanage that ambassador put me in. I haven't gotten adopted yet, and I doubt I ever will. People want cute little kids, and I'm not one.

I got tired of people telling me that it will be all right every time I cried or looked sad. So I replaced my frown with a smile, and everytime I want to cry, I make some lame joke instead.

Duelling hasn't been the same for me anymore.

I can't feel the thrill, the excitement that I once felt when I duelled. I used to mostly act on instinct, but now it's like I've never even duelled before. My own deck has become distant, but for some reason I cannot bear being apart with it, so I still carry it around.

I do karate again. The feelings that I bottle up would be too much, so I turn them into rage and cast them on some poor makiwara or fellow kohai. It makes me feel better.

I go to a school, here in Domino. I guess I have many friends. None of them know much about me though. Just that I have normal grades, do karate and joke a lot. Nobody ever asks why.

**This is a very short one. They will become longer. It's just very hard to write angsty Cat, since she was so happy in the previous chapters. It's hard to imagine the mind of someone who has lost their entire family. My grandpa passed away almost two years ago, which was very sad, but still, it's impossible to compare that to losing everyone. **

**For some reason the Doc manager doesn't let me double-enter. Anyone knows why?**


	5. Chapter 2

** Sorry for taking so long! Lately I've been sick, and it's kinda hard for me to write when there's only two options- either my head hurts really bad, or I feel a bit sleepy from the medicine. Anyway, I hope the chapter is okay. Please review to point out mistakes and stuff!**

"Now, Jain, Lightsworn Paladin! Attack her directly and finish her off!" All I could do was watch as my opponents' monster wiped out the last of my Life Points.

"I knew it! You're just a liar. There's just no way a duellist like you could have been the champion in a tournament. You can barely play the game!" He told me.

I wanted to retort something, but then I realised he was right. I could barely duel now. I was useless as a duellist. So I just turned my back and walked away.

I've been doing a lot of that lately. Walking away. There's no way anyone would believe that my duelling skills just... disappeared.

Here in Domino duelling is almost like a national sport, because of the great duellists that come from here. Every kid believes he is the next King of Games, and they challenge everything that walks.

And I still want to become a pro duellist. Before... they died, I wanted to become one, because I loved duelling. Now I want to do it in honour of Rob. He probably could've become one of the top duellists in the world. And now he's gone.

And so are my duelling skills. And my luck. But I refuse to give up. If I can't duel with luck, I'll practice. If I can't remember my brothers' strategies, I'll make up my own.

...But now I'll go beat the hell out of some makiwara.

….

"I really do feel a lot better. Maybe I should go to the dojo every day. Oh, It's getting late. I should get to the orphanage quickly." With these exact thoughts I started running, since my destination was almost on the other side of the city.

I am a pretty agile person, but that didn't stop me from running right into someone else and knock them down on the ground.

"Sorry!" I said to the person and held out my hand to help them get up, before finally looking at them. It was a boy, who looked a bit older than me. Apparently he was sorting his deck or something, because now there were cards EVERYWHERE.

"You should be more careful." Was all he told me, before getting up and ignoring my hand.

"Huh? Why exactly? I think you're just as guilty as me in this incident!"

"If you go running everywhere like that, you probably knock people down around every corner." with that he bent down to pick up the cards. I merely shrugged and joined him. He did have a point.

We gathered the cards in silence, until a specific card I saw attracted my attention. Suddenly I felt like duelling. And not just anyone, I wanted to duel this guy!

"I want to duel you." Was what I said, handing him back his cards.

He raised his eyebrow and responded with a "Why?".

"Those are some good cards you have there. If you can play them right, you're probably like the Terminator of Duel Monsters."

"...What?"

"Just duel me!"

"Very well. When and where?"

"Right now, anywhere. Maybe here?" I asked, pointing at a café right next to us.

He didn't say anything, but walking in the café was all the answer I needed.

We sat down at a nearby table.

"May I take your orders?" asked a waitress while approaching us. I was ready to tell her that I'm not getting anything, but the boy beat me to it.

"I'll get a tea, and," he studied me for a moment, "a hot chocolate for the girl." .Wait, what?

"What? I don't have any money." I protested.

"You really look like you could use some chocolate."

"Wow. It's like, you have the ability to make even the kindest things sound like an insult. Well, I'm not drinking it! It's against my morals!" I regretted my words right after the waitress came back. The drink smelled so good it was hard not to chuck it down the moment I got it.

"So, are we gonna duel or what?" I asked. He merely handed me his deck, and took mine from my hand. Weird. I don't even remember taking my deck out.

We shuffled each others' decks for a few seconds, before handing them back. It was weird- duelling without duel discs. I hadn't done that in a long time.

"You go first!" I told him. He nodded and drew a card. He looked pleased with what he drew.

"I activate Pot of Greed and draw two cards! Next, I activate Fusion! I fuse together the three Cyber Dragons in my hand to form the Cyber End Dragon!" Wow. Looks like he really can play those cards. Which means I've pretty much already lost. "Now, I set two cards face-down and end my turn."

"Alright Cat, you can do this." I thought to myself. Hmpf. The card I drew was Luster Dragon. In most situations it would've been a good card to start with, but this time was different. I looked at the rest of my hand. Monster Reborn, Share the Pain, Trap Hole, Mesmeric Control and Black Luster Ritual. I've got it!

"I acticate the spell card, Mesmeric Control!" I said. Okay, he didn't activate his face-down, so it's probably not Magic Jammer.

"I summon Luster Dragon in attack position!" All right, so it's probably not Trap Hole.

"Now, I activate the spell card Share the Pain! You do know what it does, right?" I asked him, to which he replied with a nod. Seems like he doesn't talk much.

"I tribute Luster Dragon!"

"I activate Magic Jammer." What? Why didn't he activate it earlier? Did he see through it?

"I activate Monster Reborn! Return, my Luster Dragon, this time in defence position!" I shouted, getting a bit carried away. That hadn't happened in a long time.

"Bottomless Trap Hole."...Shit. That's not good.

"I set a card face down and end my turn." I said, setting my own Trap Hole. Hopefully it'll scare him, otherwise I've already lost. Well, I probably would've lost anyway.

"Cyber End Dragon, attack her Life Points!"

I've lost again. Why? Why can't I win? I wanted to scream, and shout.

"I expected a bit more of a fight. Even from some random girl on the street."

Now I almost wanted to hit him. Instead I just grinned and said "I want a rematch. Tomorrow, here, at about the same time."

He replied with "I believe it will be a waste of time."

Yet, when I entered the café the next day, he was there, sitting at that same table.

**I wrote a duel! It was actually kinda fun, but it did feel a bit awkward. Did it turn out alright? Please let me know what you think!**


	6. Chapter 3

**I'm so so sorry for being late with these updates! But I do have a legitimate reason. I've been sick a lot lately, so school work piled up, so before spring break I had to write four tests, two essays and a project. I haven't been sleeping much. Well, thank god it's spring break! Oh, and btw, thanks for pointing out the mistakes in the duel, YamiRuss! I fixed them. That sort of reminded me of how long it's been since I've had an actual duel!**

I and Mr. Mystery Guy Whose Name I Don't Know had been duelling in that cafe every day for a month now. And I hadn't won a single duel. NOT EVEN ONE. FREAKING. DUEL.

"Grrr! I lost again!" I yelled. Mr. Guy was about to say something, but I cut him off. "Don't bother. I already know everything. I'm hopeless. I'm not improving. The worst duellist you've ever duelled... But I don't want to give up! So you better be here tomorrow!" He just stared at me. "Why aren't you saying anything? Something like, 'it will be an hour wasted', or 'why do you keep trying' or stuff like that?" I asked him. I had expected him to say that, even if he wasn't exactly very social.

"Because I already understood that you won't give up even if I say anything." He replied.

"Umm...Thanks. Well, I gotta go. See ya!" I said, rushing out of the door.

I really wanted to win. And as far as I knew, I still knew the rules of the game and everything. So why can't I have a nice duel? Why can't I draw good cards? Why have all my instincts...disappeared?

I decided to buy some flowers and stop by my family's graves. I usually visited them weekly, and I had already been there yesterday, but I felt like going again. I put the flowers on Mom's and Dad's graves and stared at them for a bit. I never put any flowers on Rob's grave. He didn't like flowers. Instead I had put his deck on his grave and in the dirt I had drawn Black Luster Soldier, which I redrew every once in a while.

I sat down next to my brother's grave and started thinking. So. I couldn't duel. What would Rob do?

Now that's a stupid question. He would never be unable to duel. Plus, he's dead. Suddenly I burst into tears. I have no idea why. Oh, who am I kidding? I know exactly why. I still can't accept the fact that they're... gone.

_Oh come on, Catherine. Pull yourself together._

"Who said that?" I asked, looking around frantically.

_It's me. Well, actually it's you. I am you. The smartest part of you, of course._

Oh, great. What am I, a schizophrenic?

_Just shut the hell up and stop crying! It won't do you any good._

I guess you're right. Or should I say 'I'm right'? Maybe I'm just going insane.

_Maybe you are. But seriously though, you should stop mourning so much. It won't bring them back, you know._

But...

_No buts! You of all people should know that they wanted you to be happy. So let it go._

But...

_NO. NOW TAKE ROB'S DECK AND GO HOME,_ _KICK EVERYONE'S_ _ASS IN CARD GAMES, AND MAKE YOUR FAMILY PROUD! AND FOR GODS' SAKE, STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF._

I sighed, and decided to say nothing. Well, it is kinda hard to argue with your own self. I stood still for a moment, thinking if I should take Rob's deck or not. Well, I guess it's kinda going to waste just lying here. Someone might even steal it. Oh well. I bent down, took his deck and put it in my pocket. And I suddenly felt a lot better. Like there was still hope. Like I actually could win something. I felt... epic. I mean, if I believed in myself, why couldn't I? Wow, that sounds super messed up.

It was the middle of the Geography lesson. The room was very quiet. Most students were sleeping or talking to each other, or simply doing nothing. I was doodling in my notebook. I still felt awesome. And this was the last subject today! Soon I will be free!

Yesterday, after I arrived back at the orphanage, I made a few changes in my deck. I replaced some of my spell and trap cards with my brothers', and added another Black Luster Soldier. Hey, maybe I should challenge someone just to test out if I can do anything.

After what seemed like a hundred years, the bell finally rang. I started to gather my stuff. Suddenly I heard some of my fellow classmates talking loudly. After listening for a brief moment I came to the conclusion that they were bullying someone. I stood up and walked over to them. Seems like they were bullying that new kid- what was his name? Maru... Maru something. I think I can see why. He's very short and his hair is light blue. An easy target for bullying.

"And with that weird hair of yo-" One of the bullies started saying, but I cut him off.

"That's enough." The bullies and the target all turned to face me, the latter bearing a surprised look on his face. Apparently he wasn't used to being stood up for.

"What?" The same bully asked.

"I said. That's enough. Leave him alone." I repeated.

"Why should I?"

"Because I said so. And, unless you want to test out how hard I kick, I suggest you oblige." The bullies looked at each other, confused., before finally glancing back at me and retreating. Now there was only me and that kid in the classroom.

There was a moment of silence.

"...Thanks." the short boy finally said.

"No problem." I replied.

"Um, why did you do that?" he asked me.

"Do what?"

"Threaten all those bullies and everything."

"Do I need a reason? I just thought that it was sad. I mean, you were all alone. And I don't think I've seen you even talk to anyone, so looks like you could use a friend."

"Thank you." He said again. I sighed.

"You already thanked me. And I already said it was no trouble at all." I told him. "Anyway, what was your name again? I'm terrible with names. I bet I'd forget my own name if it wasn't written on all of my documents."

He responded with a laugh. Okay, so he was capable of emotions. "Marufuji Sho."

"Well, Marufuji Sho- wait, can I call you Sho? I hate formalities! It was nice talking to you, even if just a for a minute. I'd love to stay and chat more, but I have to run, otherwise I'll be late for Karate again!" I exclaimed, not waiting for his response, and started to run in the general direction of the exit.

"Bye!" I yelled before slamming the door behind me.

Alright, it's Karate time! And after that, duelling with Mr. Mysterious again! But I feel like this time, it's gonna be different.

**I wanted to finish the duel too but I feel like I'm going to fall asleep halfway during it. I'll try to update it tomorrow. **

**Do de la la la!**


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